Special Instructions 2007B

This page provides
instructions for completing Phase II Science Programs for all Gemini
North and Gemini South instruments. It includes submission details and
procedural changes. Please read this page carefully!

Note:
As in the previous semester the Phase II deadline is a hard
deadline for queue programs (see details below). Programs that have not completed
their Phase II definitions by the deadline will be dropped from the queue.

Distribution of Phase II Skeletons

All observations
must be defined using the Observing Tool (OT) software. Gemini staff have
translated approved Phase I proposals into the Phase II
format for loading into the OT. In this process, the observations and other details entered in Phase I
are used to construct a ("skeleton") framework of your Science
Program.

Instructions on skeleton retrieval were sent to PIs during the week of June 11. As in previous semesters, the Phase II
skeletons are downloaded/uploaded directly from/to the Gemini telescope databases
to enable more efficient and rapid processing. See more information
on using the Observing Database.

A new release of the OT ("vinchuca") is available to support Semester
2007B Phase II preparation (as well as on-going 2006B and 2007A programs); do not use the previous "avispa" public release. There are OT installation instructions
available. If you are unfamiliar with the
OT, there is an OT tutorial that provides a useful
introduction. In addition, each instrument also has several web pages that
provide guidance on observing strategies and how to describe these in the OT. OT libraries with example observations and configurations for each instrument can also be fetched.

Relaxation of Observing Condition Constraints and Other Observation Changes

For semester 2007B the queue was constructed by filling the expected
observing conditions (and overfilling the poorer than average conditions)
but limited to the total available queue time (i.e. the total science time
less scheduled classical nights and estimated Band 1 rollover programs). Band 3 programs,
which occupy the lowest half of the queue, are unlikely to
be executed, and very unlikely to be completed, if they request conditions
that are better than average (especially in cloud cover and image quality).

Programs in Band 3 will be expected to use the relaxed Band 3 conditions that were specified during
Phase I. It is always acceptable to relax the conditions even more
since more relaxed conditions leads to a higher probability of
execution (see Advice for Band 3 PIs). One useful analogy is to consider "how would I
attempt this program if it were classically scheduled and the conditions were
sub-optimal?".

In
semester 2007B we are continuing the "poor weather queue". This is
a program to fill telescope time under very poor, but usable,
conditions. Time spent on these programs will not be charged to the PI
or the partner countries. These are queue programs only but are
distinct from the "regular" band 1 to band 3 queue. They will be
executed only when nothing in the regular queue is observable. In
all other respects (Phase II deadlines, NGO and contact scientist
support, science archive data distribution) they are identical to other
Gemini programs.

If your program is in the poor weather queue,
it will be designated as "Band 4" above (and in the Phase II
definition); it will also be identified as such in the ITAC comments.

The
Observing Conditions component now also makes it possible to add
airmass or hour angle constraints. While needed for some
programs, use of these constraints is equivalent to a change to better
conditions constraints than approved by the ITAC. Therefore, any
use of the airmass or hour angle constraints requires approval via the change
request procedure.

If during detailed definition you find that the approved observations need to be modified,
please follow the change
request procedure.

User Support

The National Gemini Offices are responsible for Phase II support for the "established" facility and
visiting instruments as mandated by the Gemini Board. Phase II support for the
other instruments remains with the Gemini Observatory staff. In outline, the
Phase II process for the established instruments is as
follows:

PIs interact with NGO support staff to complete Phase II using
the OT for all observations with NIRI (including Altair), Phoenix,
both GMOSs (including MOS mask design), T-ReCS, GNIRS and
Michelle.

All Phase II Science Programs are checked by
NGO staff prior to being forwarded to the Gemini Contact
Scientist. (Note that Gemini CSs will return any Phase II programs
that are received directly from PIs, with instructions to contact
their NGO).

Gemini Contact Scientist checks Phase II
Science Programs; if there is any problem the Science Program will
be returned to the NGO support staff. The NGO staff will then
iterate further with the PI.

Only when the Gemini Contact
Scientist agrees that the Science Program is ready will it be
activated in the queue for execution. The PI will be notified that
their program is in the active queue and that the Gemini CS is now
the primary contact point.

If you wish to change the primary contact for this program, e.g. to a
co-I, please e-mail Brian Walls (bwallsgemini.edu) with a copy to the Gemini Heads of Science Operations
(ijorgensengemini.edu,
mwestgemini.edu, brodgersgemini.edu)
and a copy to your National Gemini office.

To help us in tracking and resolving user problems,
questions and suggestions, and thereby improving the software and web pages,
please use
the Gemini HelpDesk. This allows us to ensure that no queries are missed and
help us improve the software and documentation. A streamlined
interface is
available for Phase II queries, keyed to your Gemini Program ID (e.g.
GS-2006B-Q-12). As with the regular HelpDesk interface,
your query will be
directed to the specific NGO or Gemini support staff. Support
assignments do change occasionally and you can verify the contact names
from the "interactive snapshot" of the Observing Database, accessed
from the contents list on the schedules
web page. (The NGO and Gemini support staff email addresses are listed on the
support staff web page).

Deadlines and Mechanism for Return of Completed Science Programs

The mechanism for submitting your completed Phase II Science Program is
by using the Store command in the Observing Tool and is the same
for all instruments. See the Observing Database
information for more details.

Dates for submission of completed Phase II information are (all 6pm local time):

The mandatory deadline applies to all queue programs
including templates for Quick Response / ToO observations. The
mask design deadlines are more flexible but we encourage PIs to submit
their mask designs and final MOS observations as early as possible.

PIs of all classical programs must also
submit Phase II observation definitions. The deadline for these is three
weeks prior to the first scheduled night.

Programs that have not completed their Phase II definitions by the
deadline noted above will be dropped from the queue or schedule. In exceptional
cases an exemption may be requested by emailing the Heads of Science Operations
(ijorgensengemini.edu, mwestgemini.edu,brodgersgemini.edu)

In some cases GMOS PIs may be contacted directly and asked to submit their
Phase II early to provide sufficient observations for pre-imaging and MOS
spectroscopy at the very start of the semester. All MOS pre-imaging observation
descriptions must be submitted by the regular deadline (see table above).

OT and Other Late-Breaking Changes for 2007B

The principal changes to the OT software are listed on the OT Release Notes page. There are
also several new policy changes. Here we summarise how they affect
Phase II observation definition and point the user to further
details.

GMOS mask designs without GMOS pre-imaging

We
are implementing the capability for the design of GMOS MOS masks from
any available imaging with good astrometry. This has the
potential to save observing time since pre-imaging with GMOS will no
longer be required. In 2007B this may be offered on an "at risk"
basis. PIs who are interested in utilizing this should
inform their contact scientists.

Major new OT capabilities and procedure changes

For programs in Band 3, the minimum useful Band 3 times
specified during Phase I will be used as the criteria that the programs
have been successfully observed. However, Gemini will still
attempt to complete (observe all the allocated time) for all Band 3
programs that are started.

Band 3 programs should relax the
observing conditions to be at least as poor as the Band 3 conditions
given during Phase I. Any programs that did not define Band 3
conditions during Phase I should consider the Advice for Band 3 PIs in order to maximize the chances of execution.

Phase 2 checking: the OT assists the completion of the
Phase II details by providing suggestions for fixing warnings or errors
that it finds something not configured correctly. Note that the
presence of a warning or error message does not prevent any action,
such as fetch/store.

Auto-updating: For users who have their own copy of the OT, the OT can now check for updates, download and install them, and update the local database. OTs in multi-user
environments such as on application servers, should be updated using
the provided installation files since the OT cannot update the local
databases for multiple users.

GMOS longslit acquistions of
point sources now use the central stamp ROI to save time. We encourage
GMOS PIs to fetch the latest version of the GMOS OT libraries.

Notification of Data Taken and Electronic Distribution

The "Notify PI" checkbox in the OT observation component is
not yet active. Nonetheless, raw data are available "immediately"
(usually within minutes) from the Gemini Science Archive using your OT
(observing database) key for secure access to proprietary data. PIs
will be notified by email once their data have been quality assessed
and ingested into the archive and are available as a package along
with other metadata (observing logs, calibrations etc). See more
information about data retrieval
from GSA.

Status of Submitted Programs and Observations

The queue summary and "interactive database snapshot"
pages show the current execution status of all queue programs and
indicates when data have been taken. (For the next level of detail,
click on the "execution status" link under each program to see the
status of each observation or on the execution log links in the
contents list to see which observations were executed each night).